You can add me to the list of those dropping IE as their default browser, after almost 2 decades of its use in that capacity.

I switched to Pale Moon on all my systems a few weeks ago, when I found it noticeably faster than IE 11 for both Win 7 and Win 10. And there is always the hope that it paints a smaller bulls-eye for the hackers than do the main contenders.

I agree that the tone of that article was a tad sensational. One might quibble with the numbers quoted, how they were obtained, and what they represent (the article states it is global user share- desktop and notebook owners) but there is no doubt that the historical dominance of the IE browser has been overtaken by Chrome. Other organizations that track browser market share confirm this:

Desktop Browsers North America, trend over one year to June, 2016
Chrome: 42%->56%
IE+Edge: 28%->22%
gs.statcounter.com/

Desktop browsers USA, from Aug/2015 to June, 2016
Chrome: 29%->49%
IE+Edge: 52%->37%
www.netmarketshare.com/browser-market-share.aspx

USA Browser Share, from April/2015 to Aril/2016
Chrome: 38%->44%
IE+Edge: 21%->16%
www.statista.com/.../

For all users on USA government websites over the past 90 days:
Chrome: 43%
IE+Edge: 21%
https://analytics.usa.gov/

[Somehow the decline of MS browser use does not seem to worry investors, what with MSFT share prices up 15% from one year ago. But I digress ...]

You mentioned Win7+10.  

I know you have an/some older XP system(s) --- although I think you may have taken it/them offline.

But for anyone who is still using XP online, here's a reminder that PaleMoon will be dropping its Atom Processor / XP support, effective with the release of version 27.

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/virus-spyware/f/3522/t/19984038

This is ridiculous.

First, the article's author clearly has huge amounts of animosity towards Microsoft.  Not only is the article purposefully vague on what they consider a PC, Their numbers absolutely cannot be correct.  And just what constitutes "abandoning" IE?  If a corporation with 400 employees who are using Windows PC's goes under, were they counted as people abandoning IE? Seen many tablets or smart phones using IE or Edge lately?  Ever?  What about the fact that tablets, lower-end smart phones, and low-end pc's and laptops (chromebooks, media servers, which are by and large fully functioning pcs and sold under the pc flag, macs,  and linux boxes) are now affordable technology in many places is the world, and tend to be purchased much more frequently due to the fact that their hardware isnt upgradeable much, or at all in most cases? 

Now let's take a look at the "statistical chart" they had on there -- with no actual number of users written down anywhere, or sources, just  a red line which one can guestimate a rough number from since the tens of millions were marked.  It looks like theyre sayind something like 290-300 million people have stopped using IE in the last year...but according to the general consensus, at MOST 2 billion people in the world have any sort of home internet access, and thats the very high side, more likely around 1.5 billion.  Most, again, using operating systems that will never have IE installed on it, as it's proprietary software developed by and for Microsoft's OSes.  I don't know if IE is ported to any other major OS, possibly Apple IOS, I've never seen a native linux build as it is proprietary software for Windows, and why even make an effort do do it?  To bask in the sneers arrogant, self-righteous nerds as they dismissively asserted it would never be run on THEIR Slackware/Gentoo/DamnSmallLinux box?

Well, at least it's a victory for FOSS communities worldwide!  Cause Chrome is open source!...right?  Of course it isn't.  It doesn't matter that most of its code is used in the open-source Chromium project.  Because the rest isn't and so it's closed-source, proprietary software.  Of the biggest 4 browsers (IE, Chrome, Safari, and Firefox), only firefox is FOSS.  But the author clearly doesn't care about Firefox representing FOSS, either.He has an obsessive hatred of Microsoft, which op seems to gleefully share.  Anyways, I think I've proved the lack of validity and, frankly, any sort of journalistic integrity of that article.  IT'S MADE UP.  It's a lie.

Personally, I hate internet explorer.  It tends to be insecure, too obtrusive, and unattractive visually.  Haven't used it as a main browser in at least 15 or so years.  I also much prefer linux to Windows and love the open source movement as a whole.  But I like Windows just fine too.  Because for the most part, it just works.  I'm not going to be dropped into a repair shell out of nowhere due to some incompatibility with the now fstab dot upgrade, and have to spend hours undoing the damage.  And thats nice, especially at times like when that exact scenario happened to me, and I was able to just boot into windows and start researching fixes.  The passion with which so many people want to see Microsoft destroyed is shocking and appalling.  Because the reasoning is never deserving of that kind of vicor.  It seems to always boil down to "because Bill Gates used his natural talents, worked incredibly hard for decades, and rose up to be a representation of the fulfillment of the American Dream".  If that isn't bad enough I'm 99% positive the unforgiveable part is the fact that all in all, he seems to be just a legitimately good human being, deserving of and garnering the respect of his contemporaries, rivals or not.  And most of those  who hurl the most grave condemnations at him are none of those thing.  And byand large are too lazy to strive to them.

But I'm sure that this internet browser thing is causing the the Microsoft Corporation te heave its final death knells.  So grats, guys, or whatever.

[As a follow-up to Joe's comment...] For MSFT investors:

the stock closed at a (split-adjusted) peak of 58.38 in 12/99, just before the "dot-com bubble" burst.

It then retreated to as low as 16.15 in 2/09, following the collapse of the financial stocks.

As of this past Friday, it closed at 51.16... a major come-back from its low... but yet, still below the high set 17 years ago.

Keep in mind that Microsoft NEVER charged (separately) for IE, so IE in-and-of-itself never really factored into the price of MSFT shares.